Leadership: U.S. Navy Professional Reading Program

U.S. Navy Professional Reading Program

October 8, 2006: The U.S. Navy has announced Navy Professional Reading Program (NPRP), which is a list of sixty books the navy leadership believes that sailors should read. There's a lot of pop-psychology and pseudo-learned business stuff here, but it's nice to see the fiction. Every sailor should read The Cruel Sea.

The books are divided into "collections," each directed at a different age and rank group. Naval ranks are E-1 to E-9 for enlisted, and O-1 to O-10 for officers.

Junior Enlisted Collection (from recruit E-1 to E-4)

D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II, by Stephen E. Ambrose

The Declaration of Independence and Other Great Documents of American History, 1775-1865

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card

Flags of Our Fathers, by James Bradley

The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

Life in Mr. Lincoln's Navy, by Dennis J. Ringle

Lincoln on Leadership, by Donald T. Phillips

A Passage to India, by E.M. Forster

A Sailor's History of the U.S. Navy, by Thomas J. Cutler

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey

Starship Troopers, by Robert A. Heinlein

Time Management From the Inside Out: The Foolproof Plan for Taking Control of Your Schedule and Your Life, by Julie Morgenstern

Leading Petty Officers Collection (E-4 to E-9)

American Government, by Robert A. Heineman, Steven A. Peterson, and Thomas H. Rasmussen

Billy Budd and Other Stories, by Herman Melville

The Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk

The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror, by Bernard Lewis

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's

Finest Hour, by James D. Hornfischer

Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda, by Sean Naylor

The Sand Pebbles, by Richard McKenna

Shackleton's Way: Leadership Lessons From the Great Antarctic Explorer, by Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell

The Sheriff: America's Defense of the New World Order, by Colin S. Gray

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, by Malcolm Gladwell

To the Shores of Tripoli: The Birth of the U.S. Navy and Marines, by A.B.C. Whipple

Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the American Revolution, by Richard M. Ketchum

Division Leaders Collection (Junior officers, O-1 to O-3)

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The Golden Thirteen: Recollections of the First Black Naval Officers, edited by Paul Stillwell; foreword by Colin L. Powell

The Good Shepherd, by C.S. Forester

The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business, by Clayton M. Christensen

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, by Dava Sobel

On the Origins of War: And the Preservation of Peace, by Donald Kagan

Recognizing Islam: Religion and Society in the Modern Middle East, by Michael Gilsenan

The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power, by Max Boot

Shield and Sword: The United States Navy in the Persian Gulf War, by Edward J. Marolda and Robert J. Schneller Jr.

Two Souls Indivisible: The Friendship That Saved Two POWs in Vietnam, by James S. Hirsch

White-Jacket: or, The World in a Man-of-War, by Herman Melville

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century, by Thomas L. Friedman

Department/Command Leaders Collection (O-4 to O-6)

The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas Monsarrat

Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan, by Ronald Spector

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan

The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair, by Martin Meredith

From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas L. Friedman

Imperial Grunts: The American Military on the Ground, by Robert D. Kaplan

Implementing Diversity: Best Practices for Making Diversity Work in Your Organization, by Marilyn Loden

Jefferson's War: America's First War on Terror, 1801-1805, by Joseph Wheelan

Leadership: The Warrior's Art, edited by Christopher Kolenda; foreword by General Barry R. McCaffrey, USA (Ret.)

Master and Commander, by Patrick O'Brian

One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U.S. Navy, 1890-1990, by George W. Baer

Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers, by Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest R. May

Senior Leaders Collection (Admirals, and those aspiring to be one)

The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World, by Peter Schwartz

Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism, by Robert Pape

Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War, by William Manchester

The Great Wall at Sea: China's Navy Enters the Twenty-first Century, by Bernard D. Cole
Leadership, by Rudolph W. Giuliani

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis

The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson, by Roger Knight, 29.

Rethinking the Principles of War, edited by Anthony D. McIvor

The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, by Henry Mintzberg

Scenarios: The Art of Strategic Conversation, by Kees van der Heijden

The Second World War, Volume 1: The Gathering Storm, by Winston S. Churchill
1776, by David McCullough

NPRP titles are available for purchase at Navy Exchange (Wal-Mart like stores on naval bases) and via mail order (www.navy-nex.com), for a discount of 35 to 40 percent off the list price. Free copies are also being distributed to ships libraries throughout the fleet.